Is the 6:30 bulletin still live?
With regards to NBN vacating the 6pm slot, I wonder what conversations are happening inside Seven right now.
If I was the regional news director running Sevenâs regional news operation in Canberra, Iâd be looking at Newcastle with a very opportunistic eye.
Seven already produces multiple regional NSW bulletins and local news updates from Canberra. It already has the infrastructure, workflows, journalists and production expertise in place. It also produces local news for markets like Tamworth/Taree, which has a TV universe of around 375,000 people.
Newcastle, by comparison, is closer to 850,000 and is one of the largest regional TV markets in Australia. More importantly, it has spent decades proving it will watch local news at 6pm.
If I was sitting in Canberra, Iâd already have a business case on someoneâs desk in Sydney outlining the audience opportunity, advertising revenue potential, localisation opportunities and commercial upside of moving into a market where your biggest competitor has effectively vacated the traditional 6pm local news timeslot and left it warm for you.
Opportunities like this donât come along very often. The question isnât whether the opportunity exists. Itâs whether Seven HQ believes the revenue opportunity is large enough to pursue. They believe it is in Tamworth and Taree, a market almost 1/3 of the size.
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Perhaps theyâre waiting to see what the ratings will look like post change and then make a decision. In Newcastle, they may see no need if the 6pm Sydney News is rating number 1 or at least strong enough by itself like in Canberra.
You have to appreciate Seven/SCA also own the number 1 and 2 Commercial Radio stations in Newcastle too so the cross-promotional opportunities would be endless.
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That a fair point.
However being â#1â does not mean there is not opportunity for growth.
The question is less âare we #1â and more âis there revenue upside to putting local news at 6 which is greater than the outlay costâ
in 5 other markets the answer to that question must be âyesâ
Unfortunately we live in different times with much much lower broadcast revenue streams than ever.
If Seven could make a Newcastle/Hunter bulletin work then kudos to them but I suspect if thereâs enough audience watching Sydney News at 6pm then they probably see no need.
Why spend all that extra money on Journalists, Producers and Cameramen/Editors if itâs just getting the same audience and revenue than its currently getting?
Also the bulletin would have to be unique as I donât think the current mob hosting the Seven Regional Bulletins are well known enough to complete against Natasha Beyersdorf or Jane Goldsmith, even if theyâre on at 5.30pm.
Also younger audiences arenât watching so youâre facing an uphill battle with demographics.
Just sticking local news on at 6pm doesnât guarantee riches and audiences. A lot of stations at the turn of aggregation learnt about that.
Tamworth and Taree work because theyâre incumbent and have been consistently producing a news bulletin since the 60s. Prime/Seven helped fill a void and provided some competition since NRTV ruled the airwaves.
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And because the NBN News bulletins in those markets arenât anywhere near as good as the Newcastle one.
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The business plan would have to lay out how the investment would result in increased revenue and audience. It would need projections and data.
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There was discussion from Seven entering the Newcastle market when they obtained Prime about 4 years ago. But nothing eventuated.
With Seven axing its Gold Coast news last year, I canât see it happening in this market, especially the way the economy is going.
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Agree. And free to air TV is a declining medium, revenues are probably only going to get smaller over the coming years.
Possibly. Iâd like to think itâs at least being explored.
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Which begs the question.
Why is local Australian media not getting Into the creator economy with YouTube vodcasts and such.
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One thing I have noticed is that networks now seem to be posting more stuff on YouTube.
Iâve seen daily 20 minute condensed capital city bulletins from Seven and Nine there which I think only started earlier this year.
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10 has 10News+ on Spotify & YouTube and 10s Late News also airs on YouTube as a premiere IIRC
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I wonder they could pool some of the reporters from Sevenâs existing regional bulletins, rotate them in for a few weeks in Newcastle so they could trial it without a long term commitment to hires. They could already lean on quite strong northern NSW coverage from their existing news bulletins in the region.
Ratings wise they probably get a boost from just how bad WIN News is - Tipping Point makes a big impact on Nineâs news ratings - I think youâd pick the Chase over hours old fluff from WIN, and that would make Seven News Sydneyâs numbers look better in places like Canberra and Wollongong, and not really be a reflection on the difference local news could make in some of those markets.
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Could they partner with the University in Newcastle? Sure it wonât be the most polished product but itâs a realistic way to do it on the cheap.
Nine did something similar with USQ in Ipswitch for the morning Queensland bulletin. Not sure how long it lasted though.
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Was broadcasted every Wednesday from Springfield, til the Mount Coot-tha upgrade in July 2017.
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i admire your optimism but I donât hold any real hope Seven will budge too much over this.
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Why would they? They will do the legally required bare minimum they do now, nothing more. There is no money for it.
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If anything, Seven could produce from Eveleigh with the same metro presenters a local Newcastle window within the existing 6pm Sydney bulletin with a localised Hunter and Central Coast weather at the end. These inserts of course would be pre-recorded between 5pm and 6pm. That would sort of be similar to what NBN does in Newcastle now with the existing composite NBN 6pm bulletin with its local window. I dare say Seven would not even do that. And no way would Seven displace The Chase lead-in to the 6pm Sydney bulletin in Newcastle. The days of dedicated half hour local only (non-composite) news bulletins are long gone, very last century. As to why anyone at WIN thinks 90 minutes to watch news is a good idea is beyond me. Something inside me tells me WIN do WIN News at 5.30pm as it is the only part of the broadcast schedule that Nine allows WIN to broadcast its horrid WIN Mappy logo! A pure vanity exercise no doubt to satisfy Bermuda HQ.
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